INTRODUCTION. 



AGRICULTURE, in its most extensive sense, may be defined, 

 the cultivation of the earth with a reference to the produc- 

 tion of vegetables, and the conversion of portions of them 

 into animals, and a variety of forms, which are the best 

 adapted to the wants of mankind. It is appropriately dis- 

 tinguished by numerons subdivisions. 



Tillage Husbandry consists in the raising of grain, roots 

 and other products, which require the extensive use of the 

 plow and harrow to prepare the ground for annual sowing 

 and planting. 



Grazing is limited to the pasturing and winter feeding 

 of farm stock, and it requires that the land appropriated to 

 this purpose, should be kept in pasturage for summer food, 

 and in meadows to yield the hay necessary for winter's use. 

 In its strictly technical meaning, grazing implies the rear- 

 ing of farm stock till they have attained sufficient maturity 

 for a profitable market, as far as this maturity can be secured 

 on grass and hay. It, however, properly embraces in its 

 minor divisions, the keeping of cows for the purposes of a 

 dairy, and the support "^>f flocks for the production of wool. 



Feeding, in its agricultural signification, consists in stall 

 fattening animals. It is properly connected with tillage 

 husbandry for the production of grain and roots, and by the 

 free use of which, animals can be brought to a' higher con- 

 dition or ripeness, and they will thus command a much bet- 

 ter price in market, than if fed exclusively on grass and hay. 



